CNN
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In the first two weeks of October, Donald Trump and his allies directed about a third of their broadcast TV ad spend to ads about transgender health care, an increase from the previous month’s ad spend. It was a significant increase that reflected a major tactical change.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and her allies continued to pour money into ads focused on taxes, character, and health care while reducing investment in spots about abortion rights. Democrats also abandoned their previous focus on immigration and crime as they sought to quell sustained Republican attacks in the weeks since Harris took over.
Ad tracking company AdImpact catalogs the issues mentioned in campaign ads on broadcast television and tracks the dollars behind those spots. Comparing the changes since August shows how the two campaigns and their allies are adjusting their messages and how much they are spending to do so.
Since early October, Republican advertisers vying for president have bombarded the airwaves in battleground states with a series of explicit attack ads, warning that Harris has previously used taxpayer-funded services to detain immigrants and the federal government. Harris has criticized her for expressing support for sex reassignment surgery for prisoners, a position echoed by Harris. The photo was taken during the failed 2020 presidential election.
These transgender health care ads, tracked by AdImpact in the “LGBTQ rights” category, accounted for about 33% of all TV ads aired by Republicans in the first two weeks of October, totaling about 66 million It accounted for more than $21 million of the US dollar.
The focus on transgender policy is a notable change from Republican ads from earlier in the fall. In August, Republican broadcast TV ads made no mention of LGBTQ rights. As of September, it accounted for just 7.5% of total broadcast spending, or about $7 million.
The economy also takes up a large share of Republican presidential ads, although the focus has shifted.
Ads mentioning the tax code, warning of possible Democratic-led tax hikes, rose to 40% of Republican broadcast TV spending and became the top story in the first two weeks of October. This was up from 2% of ad spending in August. , it was less than 1% in September. At the same time, the inflation rate in Republican TV ad spending has declined, falling from 40% in September to 18% in the first two weeks of October.
Immigration and crime, often lumped together in Republican ads, have been among the top issues in Republican spots throughout the campaign, but their emphasis has waned over time.
Immigration ranked high in ads by President Trump and his allies in August, and was mentioned in ads that accounted for about 69% of total Republican TV spending that month. Crime came in second place, attracting about 55% of Republican broadcast ad spending.
As of September, immigration-related ad spending had fallen by 35% and crime by 44%, but both issues still ranked in the top five, with crime still the leading issue.
Immigration and crime remain in the top five for the first two weeks of October, but their share of total ad spend has declined further, to 17% for immigration and 27% for crime. .
Ms. Harris and her allies also made some strategic adjustments to the content of broadcast television advertising.
Tax policy was top of mind during the first two weeks of October, as tax spots accounted for nearly half of all broadcast TV ad spend, or nearly $47 million out of a total of about $95 million. Democratic presidential ads have consistently emphasized tax policy, touting Harris’ tax policy aimed at working and middle-class households while attacking Trump’s approach and targeting corporations and high-income families. It’s part of a two-pronged approach to criticizing tax cuts.
Taxes were the No. 5 TV ad issue for Democrats in August, accounting for about a quarter of presidential spending. It rose to 51% in September and stabilized at 49% in the first two weeks of October.
Meanwhile, abortion, which has been a major emphasis in Democratic Congressional campaign ads, continued to make up a significant portion of broadcast TV ads by Harris and her allies, but declined markedly in the first two weeks of October. .
In August, ads mentioning abortion rights accounted for about a third of all TV ads aired by Democrats during the presidential election, making it the top issue. In September, that percentage was about the same at 32%, which included spending on Harris’ campaign ads about in vitro fertilization treatments, which did not explicitly mention abortion. In the first two weeks of October, ads about abortion rights, including IVF spots, accounted for about 12% of Democratic TV ads.
In monetary terms, sales fell from a total of more than $78 million in August and September to about $11 million in two weeks in October.
The other biggest issues with Democratic presidential ads on broadcast television are characters (Democrats have consistently aired tons of ads questioning President Trump’s fitness for office) and health care, with multiple spots It touts the Biden administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs, protect Obamacare and expand Medicare. coverage.
Harris and her allies also appear to have largely abandoned earlier efforts to blunt Republican attacks on immigration and crime in the weeks immediately after the vice president took over the Democratic leadership. In August, crime ads, many of which touted Harris’ law enforcement career as a former district attorney and state attorney general, accounted for about 29% of Democratic TV ads. , spots on immigration accounted for 11%. Both stocks were below 3% in September, and remained so for the first two weeks of October, with neither stock accounting for more than 2% of total spending.
Advertisements from the campaign and its allies cover a wide range of competing issues and also reflect different strategies in terms of overall tone.
AdImpact classifies the tone of campaign ads aired on broadcast television as “positive,” “negative,” or “contrast,” in an effort to highlight policy differences between candidates.
And the data shows that the Trump campaign and its allies are running an overwhelmingly negative advertising campaign.
Of the $66 million total spent by Republican advertisers on presidential campaign television in the first two weeks of October, nearly 80% went to “negative” ads and just over 20% to “contrast” ads. It was spent and nothing was achieved. Toward “positive” advertising.
By comparison, data from the Harris campaign and its allies reflects a more balanced approach. Of the roughly $95 million total spent by Democratic advertisers on broadcast television during the first two weeks of the month, about 58% were on “contrast” ads, about 23% on “negative” ads, and about 19% on “positive” ads. was allocated to. advertisement.
